Mechanism for moving large hot metal sheets



Aug. 25, 1925.

w. A. LACKE MECHANISM FOR MOVING LARGE HOT METAL SHEETS Original FiledMay 23. 1921 t w 3 T 5 fl LE hi it bl ill Ll bi til.

Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. LACKE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MECHANISM FOR MOVING LARGE HOT METAL SHEETS.

Original application filed May 23, 1921, Serial No. 471,708. Divided andthis application filed December 8, 1922. Serial No. 605,735.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. LACKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for MovingLarge I-Iot Metal Sheets (being a division of my application filed May23, 1921, Serial No. 471,708, now Patent 1,451,879, dated April 17,1923), of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for handling large hot metal sheetsor plates, such as are used for corrugated freight oar ends andrequiring removal from the corrugating or other stamping machine; thepresent mechanism having been designed to accomplish this work in such away that [a large production of plates can be handled with accuracy andprecision.

The invention comprises novel mechanism for lifting a plate, usually astamped and corrugated one, from the lower die of the press; whichmechanism is of economical construction, not readily liable to get outof order, and highly satisfactory in use.

More particularly, my invention comprises many features and details ofconstruction more fully described hereinafter; reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the corrugating press, and the mechanismfor removing the plate from the press.

Fig. 2 is a side elewation of the mechanism of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional detail view showing the press members inthe operation of corrugating a sheet.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the withdrawing tongs in the positionwhich they assume as they start to grip a sheet, and

Fig. 5 is a changed position view of Fig. 4 showing the tongs grippingthe sheet.

In Figs. 1 and 2, of the accompanying drawings I have shown a stampingpress having a lower die 20 adapted to receive a plate, indicated insaid drawings at 14, which plate may be subsequently corrugated byproperly manipulating the press to bring said lower die with itssuperposed plate into contact with the upper die 22. The plate has beenpositioned on the lower die by plate engaging members 60, and after thepressing operation, which is effected by mechanism not here involved,the dies of the press are separated leaving the corrugated plate on thelower die 20, with its forward edge, that indicated at the left, in theposition shown in Fig. 4. After the corrugating operation is complete,the mechanism forming the subject of the present invention is broughtinto use to remove the plate from said lower die.

The plates are successively introduced to the press from rails 18 anddelivered by the latter onto the lower die 20 of the press. Extending inline with these rails 18, and disposed on the opposite side of thepress, are rails 70, and after the plates are removed frolm the press,they are moved along these rai s.

Parallel to the rails 7 O, I provide other rails 72, upon which a car 74is arnacnged to travel; suitably propelled by any suitable means-as, forinstance, an electric motor indicated at 76. Overhanging the side ofthis car 74 is anarm 78 of any conventional construction which mayextend to the center line of the rails 70; such Iarm being provided withgripping mechanism comprising a fixed jaw 80, having a relatively sharp,wedge-shaped point 82, which may be presented to the end of the diemember 20, as indicated in Fig. 4, and moved from that position to theposition indioated in Fig. 5, thereby lifting the plate from the die. Tofacilitate entrance of the wedge-shaped point 82, between the plate andthe die member 20, the latter may have a beveled notch 83, toward whichthe movement of said point 82 is directed. Pivotally connected to thejaw 80, is another jaw 84 operable by a lever 86, arranged to be pulledin an upward direction by any suitable means but preferably by asolenoid core 88, disposed in. a suitable coil 90, mounted on the arm 78, and operable through conventional conductors not entering into thisinvention, which may extend to a point some distance out of the heatarea of the plates being handled.

In operation, the parts normally stand in the position shown in Figure2. When a. finished plate 14 is to be removed from the press, theattendant operates the motor 7 6 to advance the car mechanism so as tobring the gripping jaws first to the position shownin Fig. 4, then tothe position shown in Fig. 5, after which the solenoid is energized toeffect such movement of the core as will cause the jaw 84: to grip theplate against the jaw 82. The attendant now operates the motor 76 todrive the car 74: in the opposite direction, thus withdrawing the plate14 from position I l out of the press and over onto the rails 70, fromwhich it is removed and further handled by mechanism not entering intothis present invention.

All parts of the mechanism are quite rigid so that the operator maystand near rails 72, away from the heat of plate l l, and operate thegripping jaw mechanism accurately in straight lines in the axis of thepress, to insure that the pointed member 82 may always be presented tothe notch 83 and inserted between the stamped plate and the lower die20, a condition required to avoid serious injury to the gripping jaws,if not to die or plate and facilitating removal of the latter from thepress.

In actual practice, the mechanism of this invention has been used inconnection. with that of said prior patent to commercially produce verylarge savings in connection with the manufacture of plates of thisclass.

lVhat I claim as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In mechanism for handling large, hot plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails disposed adjacent tosaid press, means for propelling said car, an arm overhanging one sideof the car, a pair of gripping jaws supported on the end of said arm andextending therefrom parallel to the path of travel of the car and inline with the axis of the press, and means for causing said jaws to gripa plate.

2. In mechanism for handling large, hot plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails disposed adjacent tosaid press, means for propelling said car toward and from the press, alaterally extending arm at one side of the car, a pair of gripping jawssupported on the end of said arm and extending therefrom in line withthe axis of the press, and means carried by the car for causing saidjaws to grip a plate.

3. In mechanism for handling large, hot plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails disposed adjacent saidpress, means for propelling said car, a second set of rails parallelingthe first and disposed in line with said press, an arm extendinglaterally from the side of the car and extending to the center of thesecond set of rails, a pair of gripping jaws supported on the end ofsaid arm and extending therefrom in line with the axis of the press, andmeans for causing said jaws to grip a plate.

4. In mechanism for handling large, hot plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails disposed adjacent saidpress, means for propelling said car, a second set of rails parallellngthose upon which the car travels and disposed in line with said press,an arm overhanging one side of the car and extending to the center ofthe second set of rails, a pair of gripping jaws supported on the end ofsaid arm and extending in line with the axis of the press parallel tothe path of travel of the car, and means carried by the car for causingsaid jaws to grip a plate.

5. In mechanism for handling large, hot metal plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails, means for propellingsaid car, an arm overhanging one side of said car, a pair of grippingjaws supported at the end of said arm in line with the axis of thepress, and means for causing said jaws to lift and grip a plate on theplaten of said press; one of said jaws being rigid so that its point mayalways travel in a path parallel to the rails.

6. In mechanism for handling large, hot metal plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails, means for propellingsaid car, a second set of rails paralleling the first, a laterallyprojecting arm at one side of said car with its end extending to thecenter of the second set of rails, a pair of gripping jaws supported atthe end of said arm in line with the axis of the press, and extendingtoward the press parallel to the path of travel of the car, and meansfor causing said jaws to lift and grip a plate 011 the platen of saidpress; one of said jaws being rigidly supported by said arm so that itspoint may always travel in a path parallel to the rails.

7. In mechanism for handling large, hot metal plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails, means for propellingsaid car, a second set of rails paralleling the first, an armoverhanging said car with. its end extending to the center of the secondset of rails, a pair of gripping jaws supported at the end of said armand extending outwardly therefrom parallel to the path of travel of thecar, means carried by the car which may be operated from a point remotetherefrom for causing said jaws to lift and grip a plate from the lowerdie of said press; one of said jaw-s being pointed and the die having anotch into which said jaw point may enter to lift a plate from the die.

8. In mechanism for handling large, hot metal plates from a press, thecombination of a car adapted to travel on rails, means for propellingsaid car, a second set of rails paralleling the first, a laterallyprojecting arm on said car with its end extending to the center of thesecond set of rails, a pair of gripping jaws supported at the end ofsaid arm in line with the axis of the press and extending toward thelatter and parallel to the path of travel of the ear, means carried bythe car which may be operated from a distant point for causing said jawsto lift and grip a plate from the lower die of said press; one of saidjaws being rigid so that its point may always travel in apath parallelto the rails and the die having a notch into which said jaw point mayenter to lift. a plate.

9. I11 mechanism for handling large, hot sheet metal plates from apress, the combination. of two sets of rails forming parallel tracks;one set of rails being disposed in line with the press and beingdesigned to support a plate and the other set of rails being designed tosupport a traveling car, a car arranged to travel on said latter rails,means for imparting reeiproeable movement to said car, an arm carried bysaid car and extending over the other set of rails, a pair of grippingjaws carried by the arm in line with the axis of the press and parallelto said first track and in position to grasp a plate located adjacent tothe end of the second track, and means carried by the car which may beoperated from a distant point for closing said gripping jaws on a platewhereby movement of the car away from the press draws said plate ontoand along the second set of rails.

10. In mechanism for handling large, hot sheet metal plates from apress, the com bination of two sets of rails forming parallel tracks:one set of rails being disposed in line with the axis of the press andbeing designed to support a plate, a car arranged to travel on the otherset of rails, means for impartii'ig reciprocable movement to said car,an overhanging arm carried by said car and extending over the other setof rails, a pair of gripping jaws carried by the arm in line with theaxis of the press and in position to grasp a plate located adjacent tothe end of the first track, and a solenoid carried by the car which maybe operated from a distant point for closing said grip ping jaws on aplate whereby movement of the car away from the press draws said plateonto and along the set of rails in line with the press; one of said jawsserving to lift a plate from the die before gripping the same forremoval from the press.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WILLIAM A. LAGKE.

